The Hardest Decisions
by wellain'tthatjustpeachy
Summary: Luke goes missing, can his friends find him before it's to late. rubbish summary promise the story is better.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I don't know if Luke's Mother was given a name so she's just called Luke's Mum all the time. This is set somewhere after the first series. It's not brilliant, but they could make an episode out of it. Hopefully Luke angst, if I've written it any good. Enjoy…**

If you had to choose between your best friend and your partner, which one would you pick?

This is the situation Luke had gotten himself into, choosing between Mina, his girlfriend or Ruby, his best friend. He wasn't exactly sure who they were, but in his heart he knew he cared about both of them. His head feet like it was a balloon it would have been a hard choice, but the fact he was now dizzy and on the verge of consciousness didn't help. He was holding out for there last hope, that Galvin would find them in time.

**

Luke was angry, he had made other plans for the night, but yet again he had ended up killing lower grade demons with Galvin. His social life was rapidly deteriorating. Luke was using this particular session as a release for his anger, he wasn't letting any get away tonight. So when one ran off round the corner he followed close behind, not knowing he was being led into a trap.

He rounded the corner blindly to run into an outstretched, slightly green coloured palm, slicing towards his throat, it was to late to move out the way. He was hit with great force in the throat, he dropped his gun and fell onto his back gasping for air looking around for his unknown attacker. Then seemingly out of nowhere a greenish manky looking demon appeared, he leaned over Luke's face and released a breath in his face. Luke inhaled the breath and passed out, no time for remarks about getting a toothbrush, no time to call for help, no time to fight back. He was taken away to the demon's lair.

**

Galvin returned to the car, he huffed, Luke had not yet returned and one of those stupid demons had ripped his favourite coat. Galvin had been waiting around an hour for Luke to return before he actually decided to get out the car and look for him, he wasn't picking up his phone and Mina and Ruby hadn't seen rounded the corner where he had last seen Luke run. He couldn't see anything, he carried on up the road for a bit and found nothing. He started to get an uneasy feeling and headed back to the car, on the way back he spotted Luke's gun discarded in the shadows 'where are you Luke?' he thought.

**

Luke woke up on a cold surface, he tried to sit up but found his whole body was wrapped in rope, he rolled to the side, only now discovering that he was on a raised table he landed on the floor rolling with the impact. He hard laughing and looked up to see the manky green thing standing in the corner, "something funny?" Luke asked

"Oh Luke, no need to be so… cold, we've just met, wouldn't want you to make any judgements to soon would we?"

"Of course" Luke replied sarcastically "you already seem to know my name, I don't know yours, and if you'll untie me I'll even consider shaking hands" he continued.

"I have no name, I have no grade, I don't even exist, and no you can stay tied up, at least until the fun begins"

"Then I shall call you…Meredith," Luke said in return "Meredith the manky monster"

**

Galvin returned to the stacks to find Mina and Ruby having what looked like a civilised conversation, but as he got nearer he heard that it was just Ruby expressing her thoughts on Luke and Mina's relationship. Galvin tossed his and Luke's gun on the table in front of them, "couldn't find him" Galvin said, "nothing to even show he was there apart from the gun, might not even be a demon, might be human, might have to get the police involved" he said starting to speculate in his head. Mina stood up and walked around the table, she reached out for Luke's gun.

She saw Luke twisting around on the floor, it looked like he was in pain, the space he was in was empty, just him a table and some rope laying on the floor. The image changed, a demon slightly off colour wearing a dirty tux, laughing. Then Ruby and herself tied to chairs with Luke on his knees in front of them looking distraught and in pain.

Galvin saw Mina coming out of the vision she stepped backwards, Galvin guided her to a chair, by the time she sat down she was paler than normal. "What did you see?" he asked her,

"Luke he was hurting, it's a demon, not one I have come across before, and then near the end me and Ruby were there, we looked fine, but Luke… he looked distraught"

"Any clues to where he might be?" Galvin asked,

" It was an empty room, no windows that I could see, nothing relevant inside"

"The demon, what did he look like" Ruby asked,

"He was tall, slightly green, wearing a tux"

"Doesn't ring any bells," Galvin muttered, "let's check the books for any idea of who this demon might be"

**

Luke was bored, he was working his way out of the ropes and they were getting looser. Meredith had gone a while ago and had not come back, Luke wasn't sure if he was just going to be left here to rot. He contemplated what Meredith had said before he left, something about showing Luke what he could do to measly humans. Luke had laughed at that and said "bad breath isn't exactly a special talent, and measly human could get back at you with that one."

Meredith had just smirked and left Luke alone. The rope finally came loose enough and Luke crawled out of it. That was when the door swung open and Meredith stalked back in, "hello Lucky Luke, did you miss me?" he taunted. Luke had taken up a fighting stance, "about as much as I miss Mexico, and what do you know, I've never been to Mexico so I guess I didn't miss you at all," Luke lunged at the demon and attacked it, in the way he had attacked many demons before. They fought for a while, neither gaining the upper hand, but then the demon kicked out at Luke bringing him to his knees, the demon took a deep breath and put his hand on Luke's forehead.

Luke fell the rest of the way to the floor and started to scramble around, he could see fire it was all around him surrounding him with no means of escape, he lay on the floor trying to get in a deep breath but there was to much smoke, slowly enveloping him, winding it's way through his body until he could no longer breath. Then there was black.

**

The demon stood and watched as the boy fought his was through the fake reality. This was the demon's main power. This was revenge, Luke's father had killed his family, now he was returning the favour. Slowly and painfully he would break the boy and slowly and painfully he would the die.

Demon's didn't usually have family's, they didn't really hang round in groups either but the ones that did were considered dangerous as they had something to lose, something to fight for, a reason for revenge.

**

The stacks were now a mess, there were books strewn everywhere, each one useless at this particular time. Galvin, Mina and Ruby hadn't even come close to finding anything, Luke had been gone less than half a day but they were feeling the strain already. Mina was feeling the worst, she had seen Luke's condition in her vision, it didn't help, and as time ticked on she could feel him becoming more distant in her heart.

**

Luke woke up slowly, afraid he would see fire, but he couldn't feel the intense heat anymore, so he slowly opened his eyes, shocked to find himself back in the boring room, he wondered what happened, trying to figure it out in his head. But then Meredith the manky monster was there again, with that stupid smirk on his face. Luke was still to confused to fight the demon, but as the demon took a deep breath he shuddered in anticipation. The hand touched his forehead and once again his eyes drifted shut.

This time there was water. Really cold water. It was slowly filling the space around him. He had survived similar before and he could do it again. That's what he told himself, but the water was colder than before and as it slowly made it's way up his body. He couldn't see where it was coming from and he couldn't see a way out, it looked like a solid concrete room, no way in, no way out. He started to panic.

The water had reached his chest and he was shivering and getting weaker with the cold, but he could fight, the others will find me, he thought, the others will get me out. He almost wished he had the fire back, he needed the intense heat, but then his mind started working again telling him that was stupid, it also told him that he could die from hypothermia before he got the chance to drown.

**

Luke had been missing for almost a whole day now, Luke's mum had been trying to get hold of Galvin, but he had been ignoring the calls, eventually he picked up "yep?" he answered, "Galvin have you seen Luke? He hasn't come back since he left with you yesterday night"

"I… erm… he's not here, he's missing"

"Do you mean that as in he's gone out with friends, or you actually lost him" she asked trying to stay calm,

"I'll come by and pick you up, we need to talk" Galvin said before he hung up, he heard her screaming his name on the other end of the line.

"Mina, Ruby, I'll be back later"

"You're going to tell her the truth about all of this?" Mina asked

"Yep" Galvin said, then he left.

**

He was treading the water now but getting weaker as time went on. He had been under a few times but the cold had shocked him out of it and he found strength to kick up again, he didn't know how long he's been there, but it felt like hours even days. Luke was on his last reserves of strength, but they were lingering. He slowed kicking and went under, he tried to kick harder but he couldn't find the top anymore. He thrashed around in the water, but he needed to take a breath, he couldn't hold it any longer, his lungs screamed for air, so he opened his mouth and breathed in the water.

Meredith returned just before the vision ended, the body was shivering on the floor, this vision had no essence of time, it could of felt like hours or days to Luke but the vision had lasted 13 hours in total, now the boy was sleeping, still shivering and feeling the cold. The demon felt no compassion, in fact he wished the boy more pain.

**

Galvin knocked on the door of the Rutherford apartment, Luke's mum answered the door "you better give me some answers Galvin" she said,

"You want answers follow me," he replied. They went out to his car and drove in silence, he pulled up out side the stacks and said "you have to come in here with an open mind," she gave him a funny look and said "just get on with it, I want to see my son"

They got out the car and Galvin lead her through the tunnel to the stacks. He pulled open the door and revealed there secret to her. Her mouth just dropped open, "what is this place?" she asked stepping forwards into the room, "this is the stacks" Galvin said as he went over to the TV and VCR and set up the video, "your husband left this for Luke in case he died, this is the best way I can start to explain what's going on here" he said in his strange American accent. He put the video on and they watched in silence.

**

Luke was coming out of it again, he felt like he was buried in snow with just shorts and t-shirt on. He coughed expecting to choke up water but it was just a weak cough, no water. He was weak overall, he hadn't eaten on the day he was taken, and he felt that he had been gone a while, he was also cold, dizzy and disorientated.

He didn't really know what was going on due to the fuzziness in his head, his memories were patchy in places, as the demon stepped in the room, Luke felt an overwhelming sense of fear. This demon was the one that was making him see these things, they were so realistic, they felt so real, now he was awake he could still remember what happened as if it was real.

Meredith was back with new ideas, the next vision was different from what he had done before, but first he wanted a bit of fun. Being a demon one thing he got pleasure out of was human pain, there was what you could call traditions for causing human pain there was beating and there was torture. Luke was already undergoing mental torture; he just needed to feel the physical side of things. So the beating began, Luke was now standing in the middle of the room swaying from dizziness. Meredith walked up to him and used some of his supernatural strength to punch Luke in the abdomen and he kept the punches going. Luke was a skilled fighter, as the threat came so did the adrenalin, the haziness was pushed aside and Luke got defensive, after he had taken a few, he started to fight back.

**

Luke's Mum was now helping Ruby with research, she hadn't said anything since she found out the truth apart from "I just want my son back."

Galvin and Mina had gone back to the place where Luke was last scene to see if she could get a vision, she was worried about Luke, they hadn't been together for long and she wanted it go on for longer, he couldn't die. She could still picture his face from the vision, it helped her carry on, he had been gone for 2 days now, and she needed faith. Once they were at their destination they got looking, Galvin took Mina to the area where Luke's gun was found. She crouched on the floor and brushed her fingers over the ground.

She saw Luke get hit in the neck and fall hard on his back gasping for air, she saw the room again, then was dragged inside Luke's head, she saw him drowning and struggling to stay alive, then she saw Luke fighting with the demon but he went down to easily, she could see he was weak, then she saw Luke and just Luke, all around him was white, for as far as she could see was white. Then the vision changed, her and Ruby tied to the chair again, both unharmed, but in this vision Luke looked weaker than before, he was looking between the both of them, unfallen tears in his eyes.

The vision ended and Galvin helped Mina back to the car, "what did you see?" he asked her.

"nothing has really changed, but he looks worse when Ruby and I are there, I saw him drowning, then I saw him in… I don't know where he was, it was just white everywhere" she was upset now, her boyfriend was in trouble and there was nothing she could do to help.

**

Ruby was scanning through Luke's Dads old journals to see if there was any mention of the green demon. She read over a bit that made her pause and go back over it, she had possibly found them a lead. She picked up her mobile and called Galvin while motioning Luke's mum to come over when Galvin picked up she told him what she had found, "Galvin I found mention of a green skinned demon in one of Luke's dads journals, says he killed the family but one got away, wearing a tuxedo. Also mentions the demon threatening his family before he left, Luke could have been taken for revenge, even if it has taken a bit of time for him to get round to it"

"Did it say where the fight went down?"

"All it says is out the back street of the local"

"Has he graded it," Galvin asked,

"Nope" Ruby said,

"I'll drop Mina off at the stacks and go find us some answers" he said, then hung up

Mina came down 10 minutes later, " Galvin said we should go home, there's not much else we can do until he gets back"

"Can I stay?" Luke's mum asked

"If you really want" Mina said "just don't get to wound up, we'll get him back"

Mina and Ruby left the stacks together, when they reached the top they found that there was some demons waiting for them, they fought but were out numbered, they were taken down and taken to the 'leader'.

**

Luke was to weak to fight for long and soon he dropped to the floor in a bloody mess, "no more" he said quietly, the demon stopped as if to show mercy but then his hand went to Luke's forehead again and Luke went limp.

His eyes opened to whiteness, he waited to let then adjust to the new light, but they didn't all around him was white, there was no light but no dark either. He stumbled to his feet, he felt back to normal strength again, he was just disorientated by his surroundings. He started walking in one direction to see if he could find a wall or something.


	2. Chapter 2

_**part 2, hope it's not too bad ! **_

Luke had be walking for what felt like hours, he had tried to directions forward and right only to find nothing, and he still couldn't see anything different. As he was about to lie down and give up something caught his eye, it was glinting somehow without any light on it. He ran towards it, as he moved it felt like the glinting object moved away too, eventually he reached it he bent down to pick it up. It was a razor blade, a shiny, sharp razor blade. Luke didn't know what to do with it, but he put it in his pocket, he looked around him out into the nothingness, there was nothing, so he lay on the floor.

After what seemed like hours there was a flash, then the light came back, but the flash came again and out of the whiteness came pictures. In the 360 degree, spherical performance Luke saw a smashed up car, he heard crying. He walked towards the car, the was a man in the front, up against the steering wheel, Luke tried to ask the man if he was okay through the broken window but no sound came out. Then he saw the baby, he reached for it, but his hands passed through everything. Then he saw Galvin, he walked towards the car and got the baby out, walking away and leaving the man there. Luke felt a flash of realisation. He was the baby, the man was his dad. He tried his hardest to frantically reach for the man to help him but his hands just passed through everything. The image faded and the whiteness returned. Luke sank to the floor shocked.

**

Mina and Ruby woke up tied to chairs, Mina couldn't see what was going on but she could feel it, she felt that her vision was coming true. "Ruby?" Mina asked,

"I'm here," Ruby said

"What can you see?"

"Well nothing much, there is a window that point towards the sky, it's day so we've been here a while, we left at 3 this morning. A wooden door, I'd say that's about it" she said, "sound like your vision?"

"Yes, when Luke was here it was cloudy outside, dim light"

"Well it's cloudy, not to sunny"

"So basically we don't know when Luke will get here" Mina said bluntly.

"I guess, no"

**

Galvin had been to see some of his demon contacts and got some potential addresses for where he might find Luke, he headed back to the stacks to get weapons. Luke's mum was asleep with her head on the table. Mina and Ruby were nowhere in sight. Galvin stocked up with weapons went to the first address.

He crept in through the back door and methodically searched each room, there were a few lower grade demons that he easily killed. He found nothing at the first address so headed out to the second.

**

Luke had relived most of his bad memories, it was safe to say he was not having fun. It had messed his head up, the memories weren't in order, they came at random intervals, he couldn't prepare for them. Some of them were twisted out of proportion, shown in a way he new didn't happen. Some he thought never happened, but they seemed so real he started to doubt himself. At the moment he was back with the white surroundings, there was no time in this place it was hard to tell how long he had been there. He thought of Mina, Ruby, Galvin and his Mother, he hoped that if he didn't get out of this hell hole they would carry on living there 'normal' lives without him, that his disappearance wouldn't alter the way they lived there lives, he wanted them to be happy. Then the light changed, flashing, colourful light coming from all directions on a background flickering between white and black. He heard shouting coming from all around him, it was making him disorientated, unfocused, and unsure. He sat down and pulled his knees in to his chest wrapping his arms around his legs and dropping his head on his knees, wishing for a way out.

**

Mina and Ruby were once again arguing, Ruby was fussing about how Mina couldn't get any useful information from her visions. The door was thrown open and the demon came in with a smirk on his ugly face. He walked in and stood in front of them, "ladies," he said, "I believe I currently posses an 'item' that you are both interested in,"

"If you mean Luke then yes, I believe you do, any chance you can let us go, give us Luke and let us go?" Ruby said already knowing the answer, but annoying demons is fun.

"I do mean Luke, and no I can't let you or him go at the moment, I can however let you see him" the Demon replied, there was a short silence that was interrupted with footsteps, two of the demons that had attacked Ruby and Mina dragged in an unconscious Luke. They pulled him up and placed him on his knees in front of the girls, " as promised" the demon said, holding Luke's body up by his hair, he reached out with his mind and brought Luke out of his world.

**

Luke started to feel like he was falling, he felt like it for a while, it was making him nervous, where was the floor? Was there a floor? Would he keep on falling forever?

Then there was the impact, Luke saw it coming he tried to position his body so it wouldn't hurt too much, that didn't work, he landed on his right side, feeling his shoulder dislocate, his legs smash in the floor, his head impact. There was a few seconds of intense pain and then the darkness enveloped him again.

Luke woke up slowly, he felt pain in his body but it wasn't as bad any more after the fall, 'must be pain meds' he thought, but as he became more aware he found he wasn't in a hospital, but a room similar to the one he had been in before, only this one had a window, it was the first time Luke had seen light in three days and he had to shield his eyes from the dim light coming through. His head was still fuzzy, he saw two people in front of him, but he couldn't place them in his head, the third person in the room he did recognise. Meredith, the demon was next to him, he reached down to pull Luke to his knees but Luke shied away from his hand expecting him to push Luke back into oblivion.

The demon pulled Luke up, the girls were looking at him, shock and worry evident on their faces. Luke couldn't figure out who they were, he was starting to feel dizzy, making placing them even harder.

Meredith stood between Mina and Ruby, "Luke," he said "I want you to answer me something, I want you to tell me which one you want to save? Which one will escape death?

Luke looked at him shocked, these were two people that his heart told him that he cared about, but even if had never met them before he still couldn't pick. He tried to look at both of them, but he was having trouble focusing, the darker hair one was looking at him funny "save Ruby, Luke" she said, earning herself a backhand to the face, but there was depth to those words, he guessed Ruby was the other one, he looked at the lighter haired one, she was crying. Luke's mind flashed onto something, a memory, the dark haired one's name was Mina, she was a vampire, she was strong and she was hard to kill.

The decision was running through his head, he saw many different ways that this could end. He felt like he was going to pass out. He could pick Ruby and hope that the Demon didn't know that Mina was a vampire, and could possibly fend for herself. He could pick Mina, he felt some deeper feeling going towards her, but he wasn't sure what they were. Another option was to stall and hope that Galvin, who luckily he still remembered, would come and save them.

In the end he picked the last one, the dizziness was getting worse, "can't think straight," Luke told the Demon, his voice was surprisingly weak, "need time to think about it," Meredith walked up to him and hit him across the face, just like Luke anticipated, Luke fell to the floor, the dizziness had intensified. He didn't even bother trying to stay conscious, he passed out hoping that it would stall long enough for Galvin to come.

**

Galvin had checked out three addresses and had just arrived at the fourth, he slowly walked around the area first to see if there was alternative ways in or out, he got round the back and heard voices. He made his way through the building, there was some lower grade demons he quickly took out as he made his way towards the voices. He looked around the corner to see Mina and Ruby tied to chairs facing him. He also saw Luke on the floor, the demon holding a lighter to his arm, Luke wasn't moving away form the lighter so Galvin figured he was unconscious, he scanned the room for potential places to get cover and other exits, then made his entrance.

Ruby was the first one to see Galvin and she quickly looked away so she didn't get him court. Galvin strode into the room and shot at the Demon, which just smoked at the area of impact, the demon laughed and then pulled a still unconscious but now burned Luke in front of him as a shield. Galvin cranked the gun up to full power, at this level it wouldn't kill a human, it would hurt a hell of a lot but it wouldn't kill them, it did however kill most demons. For this reason Galvin shot at the demon, the chemical bullet hit Luke but the demon took the full force of it, it loosened it's hold on Luke, putting it's hand on Luke's forehead. Galvin shot it again, vaporising it into oblivion. Luke fell ungracefully to the floor.

Galvin ran over to him and checked for a pulse, it was there, he was still alive. Galvin moved to free Mina and Ruby from the chairs. He went back to scoop the pale young man into his arms and they made there way out to the car. Luke still wasn't awake, he was now clammy and shaking. Galvin sped to the hospital calling Luke's mum on the way.

Luke was taken away for test's and evaluating. They didn't hear back from the doctor for over an hour when he came out to talk to Luke's mum. She and the doctor went into the doctor's office.

"I'm Luke's doctor, and I'm afraid I have some good and bad news for you, the good news is that all of Luke's injures are treatable and should heal with minimal scarring, the bad news is that your son is in a coma" Luke's mum's hand flew to her mouth, "we aren't sure how long he'll be like that, the problem we have is that his brain is functioning different from most coma patients, we will be doing more test's and scans later to see if we can figure out why, if you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me, my name is dr. Black, when your ready to see him, he's in room 346"

"Thank you," was all Mrs Rutherford said before she left the room to tell the others the news.

**

Luke was trapped again, the demon somehow new his weakness, he didn't want to be alone. The demon had created a room, a white room or more of a cell really, this one actually had walls, it contained a sink, mirror and toilet, but nowhere to sit or sleep apart from the floor. Again there was a razor blade, on the edge of the sink. He was sat on the floor staring into space, thinking about home and life before demons.

Luke had been there for a while, there was no window, no clock he couldn't tell. He was hungry, he hadn't eaten for a while. Luke was feeling weak and the longer he was there the worse it got. He could barely stand on his shaky legs as he walked to the mirror, he didn't know how much longer he could stay in the room. His attention was drawn to the razor blade, he wouldn't use it to kill himself, he wouldn't take the easy way out.

**

Luke had been in the coma for three days, he wasn't allowed any drugs in his system, as the doctors still didn't know what was causing the coma. He hadn't eaten anything either, he had visibly lost weight, he was already pretty thin to begin with. Galvin and Mina had returned to the stacks to try and find a way to get Luke out, they new he was trapped in a dream world, there weren't many demons with the power to do that, making the research much harder. They had even gone through Father Simeon's books and belongings to see if they could find anything, but had drawn a blank.

Luke's mother had been beside the bed most of the time, she was so worried about her son, Galvin had explained to her his theory about what was happening, she had offered to help them research but he said that someone should be there in case Luke woke up. Luke was hardly ever injured, he'd only been in the hospital three times.

Ruby had been avoiding Galvin, it was his fault Luke was in this mess, Galvin was the one that drew him into the world of demons. Ruby had been to the hospital to see Luke once, he looked so pale lying on the white hospital bed in the white room, he almost blended in. Ruby had told Mrs. R to go and get something to eat, she had refused to leave Luke at first but Ruby persuaded her otherwise. After Mrs. R had left the room Ruby had started shouting at Luke, trying to wake him up, she thought he might wake up just to tell her to shut up. It didn't work, a nurse came in and told her to shut it because she was disturbing other patients.

**

Luke couldn't look up anymore, he had crammed himself into the corner, with his head on his knees and his eyes closed. He was shattered, the room somehow didn't allow him to sleep, he drank from the tap but it didn't make him any less thirsty. He had the razorblade on the floor in front of him. Still sharp, shiny and lethal. He had cut his finger on it, it didn't hurt, he didn't even realise he had done it until the blood had tainted the white floor. He had been sat there thinking about using it. This was one of the hardest decisions he had ever made.

**

Luke's Mum had left the room to go to the bathroom while the Dr. Black was there checking him over. The doctor was checking Luke over as he had done for the passed five days. But today was different, Luke's heart rate started to change, the Doctor looked at the boy and saw blood coming from both wrists. He quickly jumped into action; he put pressure on the wounds before wrapping them up tight. At some point a couple of nurses had run in along with another doctor. They helped out Dr Black, following the standard procedure for slit wrists. It took them half an hour to get Luke stable.

Mrs Rutherford had returned to the room to see doctors and nurses flitting around her son. She ran up to them shouting "what's happening?" a nurse came up to her and pulled her back, "you have to give them space to work," she said soothingly,

"but what happened,"

"both your son's wrist's have been cut, he was bleeding out pretty fast, they are just trying to fix the damage"

"he… I …how… I gotta go" she said and fled the room, she called Galvin and Ruby with the update. Galvin got there 5 minutes later, ten minutes later Dr. Black came out, "he's stable, I'm not sure what happened, we think his lung collapsed due to the stress on them, we've put him on a ventilator for now. The good news is that his brain is now acting like someone unconscious, there is a chance that this fiasco has brought him closer to waking up."

**

Luke felt himself waking up, but there was something wrong, he tried to breath in but there was something obstructing his throat, he started choking, he was now fully awake. He heard someone talking, but he couldn't understand. He looked around and saw white walls, he panicked which caused him to try and breath even quicker. He saw black spots in his vision.

A different doctor ran into the room, after being alerted by Luke's heart monitor. He ran up to the bed, "Luke, calm down for me, Luke." Luke was looking around the room frantically, he got into Luke's line of vision and touched his shoulder, the boy immediately shied away from the touch, "you're in the hospital Luke, you're on a ventilator, I need you to relax, try to breath with the machine for me." Luke understood, he was struggling but managed to get his breathing under control, "I'm going to try and take this out Luke, but first I need you to tell me if you need anything for the pain, blink twice if you want something," Luke shook his head. There were nurses in the room now and they were preparing for the extraction of the tube.

Luke was lying there looking up at the people around him, he was confused, was this real? "Luke, I'm going to pull the tube now, when I say I want you to cough as hard as you can for me, okay?" Luke nodded, "right, 1, 2, 3 cough" Luke coughed as hard as he could and he felt the tube going, the coughing turned into gagging as they were a bit slow with removing it, once the tube was gone they shoved another tube in his mouth, which was sucking up excess bile and saliva, then the room was calm again. "Luke, how you feeling?" the doctor asked,

"Tired" Luke croaked

"Right, I'm just gonna give you a quick check over, then you should be able to get some sleep" he handed Luke some water, Luke reached out for it but his hand was shaking and he dropped it as soon as he got it. The doctor got another one and helped Luke drink it.

Luke's Mum rushed into the room "Luke, jeez, I'm so glad your awake, I've been so worried,"

"I'm just going to check Luke over, he's pretty weak so after that he should get some rest."

Luke was silent the whole way through the doctors examination apart from when he needed to answer a question, then he answered in the shortest way possible. He drifted off to sleep before the doctor had finished. He slept for 4 hours before he woke up again.

"Hey" he croaked to his mum who was sat by his bed

"Hi, how you feeling?"

"Weak" Luke admitted

"Do you need me to get a doctor?"

"No, I'm fine, are you okay mum, you look really tired?"

"I've been here since you got here"

"How long ago was that?"

"Six days, you were missing for four before that"

"It felt like longer" Luke muttered, "It felt like weeks"

"Luke, we never gave up, I was with Galvin, Mina and Ruby at the stacks, we spent ages looking for you and the demon that got you, you could have told me you know? About the demons, I would have understood." She said

"I couldn't risk your life, look where I ended up"

"It's fine, I'm here for you Luke"

"Thanks mum"

"Any time you want to talk about what you went through, I'm here for you. But now I'm gonna find you some food"

Luke nodded and she gave him a quick hug before she left.

**

A few hours later Galvin stopped by, " Luke," he said "how you doing?"

"Good" he replied

"Glad your okay, and I'm sorry I told your Mother, I know you didn't want to risk her safety, your father was the same, but it was the only way I could explain." Luke just nodded,

"Now I need you to promise me you will talk to someone about what happened, I don't want you bottling up something that was bad enough to make you slice your wrists." Luke just nodded again, it made scene.

"I need you to promise Luke"

"Promise" Luke said before he drifted off to sleep.

Galvin looked at the sleeping boy and sighed, he was too much like his father. Galvin got up and left the letter from Mina on the side of the bed, he knew what it said and Luke wasn't going to be happy. He just hoped Luke could hold up, he had potential to become a very strong smiter. Luke was muttering in his sleep, his mother had told Galvin it had been happening every time he slept. Galvin picked up words like 'Meredith,' 'help' and 'stop.'

**

Luke woke with a start, realising it was a dream he sank back into the pillow. He felt something under his right hand, picking it up, he saw the writing on the envelope, Mina's, she had amazing handwriting for a blind person. He opened it.

_Luke,_

_Sorry I can't be there for you, I have to tell you something and I'm sorry I am breaking it to you this way, and after all you have been through, I'm sorry. I have met someone else, someone like me. He understands me better than you ever could, and he knows how to help me. I'm sorry, I DO love you, a lot. But I love him more. If you think we could still be friends or you need to talk you know where to find me._

_Mina_

Luke wasn't sure what to do, he was happy if Mina was happy and if that meant her being with someone else he would accept it. He looked up as the door opened, it was his mum, "hey" he said

"hi, doctor says you can come home if you feel up to it, but you'll have to take it easy for a while"

"done, let's get out of here" Luke said getting up.

**

A week had passed and Luke was doing much better, he had talked to his mum about what happened, and he was slowly getting back into smiting. He had worked things through with Mina, they weren't friends, they weren't a couple, it was more like they had an understanding. Ruby was back to babbling about nothing special. His Mum worried every time he went out the door. The only thing Luke had to remind him of the event were the scars on his wrists and where the chemical bullet had hit him on the side of his chest. He had locked the memories in his head, he was moving on.

A/N any chance of a review, and if anyone does no the name of Luke's Mum let me know so I can change it. TY.

_******_


End file.
